Indicator glove with cleaning portion

ABSTRACT

A indicator glove with cleaning portion has a glove with a thumb portion having a cleaning portion disposed thereon. The cleaning portion is made of raised nubs that allow the user to clean by swiping across the desired area. An index finger portion is provided with a plurality if visual and/or tactile indicators which allow the user to see and/or feel the markings. When a contaminant such as blood obscures the visual indicators, the user swipes across the contaminant to clean it. The index finger portion may also have a cleaning portion disposed on it to further aid in cleaning. For surgical uses, the gloves are made of latex, nitrile or other suitable material. Other uses may require other materials such as plastic, rubber, leather or other suitable material.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This is a continuation in part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/208,369, filed Aug. 12, 2011, which in turn claims priority to Provisional Application No. 61/478,266, filed on Apr. 22, 2011, the complete disclosures of each of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The human hand has twenty-seven bones and is a miracle of dexterity. Because of the hand, humans have been able to build the modern world. For all its virtue, the hand remains vulnerable to injury. To counter this weakness, gloves have been developed to cover and protect the hand. It is generally believed that the first gloves were mitten-like and made of animal skin and used to protect the hand from cold and injury.

Eventually, gloves became a status symbol and were worn as a symbol of power. Some gloves were made for eating before the days of the spoon and fork because of their virtue of protecting the wearer from hot food. In general, gloves have a long history and have been protecting and adorning human hands for millennia.

While gloves can protect the hand, they also impede some of the dexterity of the hand. It can be difficult to manipulate and use tools such as a measuring device. Additionally, blood and other contaminants like oil or dirt can obscure the visual indicators. There is a need for a glove that allows a user to easily perform comparative measurements without having to remove the glove and to clean any contaminants from the indicator portion.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An indicator glove with cleaning portion has a glove with a thumb portion having a cleaning portion disposed thereon. The cleaning portion is made of raised nubs that allow the user to clean by swiping across the desired area. An index finger portion is provided with a plurality if visual and/or tactile indicators which allow the user to see and/or feel the markings. When a contaminant such as blood obscures the visual indicators, the user swipes across the contaminant to clean it. The index finger portion may also have a cleaning portion disposed on it to further aid in cleaning. For surgical uses, the gloves are made of latex, nitrile or other suitable material. Other uses may require other materials such as plastic, rubber, leather or other suitable material.

Other features and advantages of the instant invention will become apparent from the following description of the invention which refers to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a front view of an indicator glove with cleaning portion according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a top view of the glove shown in FIG. 1 with contaminant obscuring indicators.

FIG. 3 is a top view of the glove shown in FIG. 2 with the contaminant cleaned off.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In the following detailed description of the invention, reference is made to the drawings in which reference numerals refer to like elements, and which are intended to show by way of illustration specific embodiments in which the invention may be practiced. It is understood that other embodiments may be utilized and that structural changes may be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention.

Referring to the figures, an indicator glove with cleaning portion 100 has a glove portion 110 that includes a thumb portion 120 having a cleaning portion 160 disposed along at least a portion thereof. An index finger portion 130 contains visual indicators 140 and tactile indicators 150. Additionally, visual indicators 140 may include surface texture to function as a tactile indicator as well.

An index finger cleaning portion 170 may also be disposed on index finger portion 130 to provide further functionality in cases where contaminants may be difficult to remove using only thumb cleaning portion 160.

As is seen in FIGS. 2 and 3, a contaminant 180 is shown obscuring visual indicators 140. In the case of surgical gloves, contaminants such as blood or other bodily fluids are often encountered. A quick slide of index finger portion 130 across thumb cleaning portion 160 cleans and allows visual indicators 140 to be viewed restoring their usefulness. Of course other uses such as, but not limited to, construction gloves, mechanics, gardening, arts and crafts, painters, etc. would be able to use the instant invention to clean dirt, oil, paint, etc. of the visual indicator portion restoring both the dexterity of the finger portions and well as being able to view the visual indicators.

Additionally, other finger portions could also include a cleaning portion to allow the glove to be used in specific applications. Cleaning portions 160 and 170 are rubberized nubs added to glove 110 in the manufacturing process. Other cleaning textures may be used such as ridges may be used to provide a cleaning surface. Of course other methods of manufacturing the cleaning portion may be used such as applying textured material to the desired location using glues, heat or other manufacturing process that is known in the art as long as a textured surface is produced which allow the user to clean the desired portion by swiping across it.

Tactile indicators 150 are raised or indented portions that are manufactured in the forming process of the gloves and allow a user to feel the marks both inside the glove and through the glove. Glove 110 is made of latex; however other materials may be used such as nitrile, vinyl, leather, plastic, rubber, etc.

Although the instant invention has been described in relation to particular embodiments thereof, many other variations and modifications and other uses will become apparent to those skilled in the art. 

What is claimed is:
 1. An indicator glove with cleaning portion comprising: a glove portion adapted to fit over a hand of a user; a thumb portion adapted to fit over a thumb of said user; an index finger portion adapted to fit over an index finger of said user; a plurality of indicators disposed along said index finger portion; said plurality of indicators being adapted to comparatively measure a size of an adjacent object; and a cleaning portion disposed on said thumb portion.
 2. The indicator glove with cleaning portion of claim 1 wherein said plurality of indicators are visual indicators.
 3. The indicator glove with cleaning portion of claim 2 wherein said visual indicators are numbers.
 4. The indicator glove with cleaning portion of claim 1 wherein said plurality of indicators are tactile indicators.
 5. The indicator glove with cleaning portion of claim 3 wherein said tactile indicators are ridges.
 6. The indicator glove with cleaning portion of claim 1 further comprising an index finger cleaning portion disposed along a top portion therein.
 7. The indicator glove with cleaning portion of claim 1 wherein said cleaning portion comprises a plurality of raised nubs.
 8. The indicator glove with cleaning portion of claim 2 further comprising a plurality of tactile indicators disposed along said index finger portion. 